Wednesday, February 21, 2007

One of my favorite children's books from when I was a kid, and one I still love now is "The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds" by Arnold Lobel. This book describes in verse and artwork that has a mysterious quality to it, a variety of birds which are made up of common household items, such as umbrellas, cameras, brooms, and money such as the dollar bill dodo.

This book clearly had a major effect on me as my comics are often populated by scissor-headed birds and assassins, as well as beings with wasps nests and flower pots for heads, factory smokestacks for spines, etc., often with atrocious puns for names.

Last Fall, I came across "Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant" by Jack Prelutsky and with gorgeous collage art by Carin Berger. This book immediately reminded me of "The Ice-Cream Cone Coot." It's filled with fanciful creatures made out of common household items, often with terrible puns for names.

"The Ice-Cream Cone Coot" is sadly out of print, though shouldn't be too hard to track down, if you are so inclined. I recommend both books.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Thursday, February 15, 2007

When I scanned this collage, the scanner light reflected off minor wrinkles in the trees. At first I was annoyed and was going to give it another try, but then I decided I liked the effect. It looks like mist is rising out of the woods in the middle ground.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

The last time I posted an entry in the "Fun With Scissors" category was back in October. Then my scanner kicked the bucket, I got busy, etc., and that was the end of it...until now.

For anyone coming here for the first time, this category was originally created as a quick collaging exercise meant as a brief diversion from an involved project I was involved in about a year ago. For this exercise I chose to depict various classic cartoon characters in collage form. I chose them in part for my fondness of them, but also because I could render one in about an hour. I initially was doing this at the rate of one a day, but the schedule was too diifficult to maintain, so I took a break then scaled back my schedule to once per week, until scanner trouble ensued.

I actually managed to do a few others I'd intended to post during my month long Halloween posts, but have decided to save them for next October. In the meantime here's the annoying shark, Jabberjaw.

I'm going to do my best to maintain a weekly schedule from here on in, but expect there will be periodic gaps.

Friday, February 09, 2007

This is the second oldest work of mine in my possession. It's my oldest attempt at creating a comic book that I am aware of. This was done sometime during second grade. Both the art and writing a crude to be blunt. This must have been part of some larger scenario since one of the characters has the inexplicable ability to transform himself into various animal forms. I can't discern any obvious influences on the story or art.

I don't know what happened in the black hole, or whether that story was ever written and drawn, though I do remember doing other episodes of this comic without a title. Sadly, or fortunately, those efforts are most likely gone forever.

What's most interesting about this comic strip is how it compares to one that my son did a few months ago, without him seeing this strip of mine until I noticed the uncanny resemblence. Dash is about 1 1/2 - 2 years younger than I was at the time I drew mine.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

The nominees for the Fifth Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror awards,have been revealed. The Rondo, named after, and sculpted in the likeness of actor Rondo Hatton, recognizes the best in monster research, creativity and appreciation.

The nominees cover a wide range of categories celebrating the continued appreciation, and scholarship of classic horror films. Every year, it is difficult to choose merely one nominee in each category as being the best for that year. This year is, I think, the most difficult year of all, as the nominees are all top choices.

If you're interested in voting, or simply seeing who the nominees are, stop by the official site linked above. Voting ends March 10, 2007.

I apologize for the lack of content of late. I've been so busy that this is the first time I've even turned on my computer in about a week. I plan to have some new/fun/insightful/interesting material up within the next week, so stay tuned.

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About Me

John Rozum is best known for writing supernatural themed comics aimed at adults such as XOMBI, MIDNIGHT, MASS., THE X-FILES, and THE HANGMAN featured in THE WEB, or for writing supernatural themed comics for children such as SCOOBY-DOO or THE SECRET SATURDAYS in CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK.
He's written many other comics as well as magazine articles, television episodes and even trading cards. He also does occasional illustration work, and accepts commissions.